Discrimination against people living with HIV in Spain continues to hamper the response to the epidemic.

-137 specific consultations on violation of rights to people with HIV received in 2009 the service of legal advice of the Observatory of the Observatory of human rights and HIV/AIDS RED2002, 5% more than in 2008.

-discrimination in the field of work is still, as in previous years, the main source of consultation (32%) in the Spanish State, followed by health care (20%) and insurance (11%), according to data of the report made public today

Spain, February 2010. Imagine that you cite the 8 in the morning in fasting for an operation and two in the afternoon say you that you go home without a reasonable justification. Imagine that after a medical check at work not you renew. Imagine that you can not hire a mortgage because no company makes you a life insurance. Imagine that you are going to introduce you to some oppositions and you exclude for medical reasons despite being well on health. Imagine that the people in your neighborhood you judged as having a virus. No need to imagine. All this happened in 2009 and are still happening in 2010 people who see their rights violated by the fact of having HIV.

Thus notes it report of consultations the Observatory of human rights and HIV/AIDS in RED2002 2009. Between 1 January and 31 December, the service of legal advice of the Observatory received 137 specific consultations on violation of rights to people with HIV, 5% more than in 2008 (131).

Discrimination in the field of labour remains the main source of consultation (32%). Within this area, the most common reasons are: changes in the conditions of work (time, physical location, responsibilities, salary), violation of the confidentiality of medical data, request for the HIV test without having relevance to the post, exclusion of opposition, difficulties in finding work or dismissals.

Other grounds for consulta:

They have highlighted health care (20%), where we are in violation of the confidentiality, inadequate care or degrading treatment; and insurance (11%), where will continue to deny mortgages to people with HIV to not take out insurance for life.

Average age of people served: 37 years

sex of the people served: 38% women and 69% men

by nacionalidad: 72 per cent of the consultations are performed by people of Spanish nationality, while 10% are carried out by people of other nationalities. These numbers might qualify given that 18% of people do not reveal their origin and that in cases brought by third parties (NGOs, hospitals, etc.) can skew the data.

Geographical origin of the consulta: covers the whole State territory, because they have been received of 15 autonomous communities different, most of the more populated areas: Catalonia, Valencia, Andalusia and autonomous community of Madrid.

Via main knowledge of the observatorio: own NGOs, which are those who inform their users of the possibility of using our service. Another important part of people discover it through the Internet and communication media

Conclusión:

The registration of cases, beyond make a picture every year profile of situations of discrimination, allows us to have tangible proof of the violation of the fundamental rights of people with HIV. The reports of the Observatory provide data that highlights the persistence of discrimination and we legitimize to continue working to reduce the stigma and defend the rights of people with HIV.

It is shown that the stigmatization of people living with HIV is a major barriers in the control of the epidemic. The prejudices and ignorance perpetuates a stigma that instills fear in society, exposed to the person concerned to the violation of their rights and makes less effective public health strategies as prevention, care, and the extension of the test.

To respond to this situation in 2003 the Observatory of human rights was created and HIV/AIDS as a project RED2002, funded by the National Plan of the AIDS of the Ministry of health and Social policy, with the goals of addressing stigma and discrimination associated with HIV, visible cases of violation of rights and sensitizing the population on this situation. For this reason, its activities develops free confidential legal advice service. All those people who live in Spain and consider that they have received discriminatory treatment related to HIV, can contact this advice service through your email, website, telephone and postal mail.